


The Tree Down the River

by for_t2



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Dark Fantasy, Desperation, F/F, Fruit, Horror, Immortality, Legends, Love, Quests, Rivers, Terminal Illnesses, Trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: There was a love that was dying and a myth of a tree that gave eternal life, and then there was a girl who screamed
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	The Tree Down the River

“They say that there’s a tree down the river that’s lived forever. That the fruit that hangs off its branches are so sweet, so ripe that even just one bite will have its life flowing through your blood, and… And just one bite and you can live forever too.”

Ayane gripped Liza’s hand tighter. Wiped the sweat off Liza’s forehead as she grimaced painfully in her fitful sleep.

“Just one bite.”

In the low candlelight of the tavern room, nighttime shadows dancing across the creases in her face, Liza almost looked like a ghost. A ghost that Ayane wasn’t ready to let go of. Not yet. Not ever.

“And you can live forever.”

*

“This is it.” Ayane took a step into the shallow edge of the river crashing through the mountains. “I’m sure.”

Behind her, Liza shivered, pulling her blanket tighter around her in the cool morning air. “What if it isn’t?”

“It is.” Ayane cupped her hands together. Scooped a palmful of the fresh water and took a sip. “The myth said it would be in the north. It said it would clear like the finest glass, wild like deepest forest, and free like the most hopeful spirit.” Of all the rivers she had hiked down, of all the maps she had stolen and bards she had interrogated, this one had to be it. “I’m sure.”

“It’s big.”

“It’s meant to be.” Ayane was absolutely sure. She couldn’t afford to be wrong. Not anymore.

“What if—” Liza coughed violently, blood spluttering out across her fingers, body shaking as if it was about to crash. “…If…” Struggled to catch her breath. “I don’t think I can walk that far.”

“Don’t worry.” Ayane rushed back from the water to steady her. Slipped her arm around Liza’s waist, warm and strong. “If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you.”

“You can’t carry me forever.”

Ayane smiled. Despite all the months she had spent searching for a cure that never came, all the months she had failed, things were looking up. “Soon, I won’t have to.”

*

“Just a little bit further.”

“Ayane.”

“Just a little bit further.”

“Ayane!”

“Further!” Ayane stopped in her tracks, the pebbles crunching under her feet. She turned back and took Liza’s hand. “We’re almost there, I promise.”

“You said that an hour ago.”

“I…” She had, but Liza was looking sicker than ever. And that meant they had to keep walking. “It can’t be far.” Even if they had already been walking for days. Weeks, maybe – this far north, the sun played tricks on time.

“I can’t.”

“Of course you can.” Ayane knew she could. She had come this far. She had survived everything the illness could throw at her. Ayane was so, so proud of her. “I know you can. And we’re almost there.”

“Please.”

“Hey, hey.” Ayane pulled her into a hug. Wiped away the too salty tears from her cheeks. “I love you.” And, Ayane didn’t want to say, she needed her. She couldn’t lose her. Not after everything. Not before everything. Never. “And we’ll make it. Together. Promise.” She gave Liza’s hand a tug. “Now come on, we’re almost there.”

*

The more she marched, the more Ayane wanted to cry. Because the more she marched, the further away the tree seemed. In fact, they had been walking for weeks – maybe even more than a month – and they had not only hadn’t found the tree, they hadn’t found any tree.

The river was barren. Moss and fish, rocks and water, but not a single tree in sight.

But the more she marched, the more she had to keep marching. If the myth was wrong, if the myth was a lie, then… Well, the myth couldn’t be wrong because it was all she had left. It was she could think about (when she wasn’t worried sick) and it was all she couldn’t dream about (when she wasn’t having nightmares of death).

The tree. The fruit. Life. The tree. The fruit. Life. It was a mantra. It kept her going. The tree. The-- 

Something crashed behind her.

“Liza, what’s…” Ayane spun backwards. Rushed towards her. “Shit, Liza!” Looped her arms over her shoulder. “Stay with me.” Carried her over to a big dry rock next to the river. “Please stay with me. Please.”

“Ayane?” Liza’s voice trickled out weaker, hoarser than it had any right to be. “I can’t feel my legs.”

“Don’t worry.” Ayane shrugged off her bag. Wrapped her extra blankets around Liza. Left what was left of her share of the rations with Liza. “Just rest here tonight, and tomorrow morning we can have a breakfast of fruit.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going to be long.” Ayane stared down the river. Towards where the tree had to be. Started walking. “It’s just down there.”

* 

Ayane almost couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw it. Almost couldn’t believe her fingers as she ran them across the weathered bark. Almost couldn’t believe her ears as the leaves rustled in the wind.

And when she saw the berries, just as wonderful, as fresh and alive as the myth had promised… 

The cheer that left her mouth echoed through the valley.

She found it.

She found it!

* 

The closer Ayane got to the rock where she had left Liza, the more she wanted to sprint. The more her steps hopped light and free. She found the tree. She had found it and everything was going to be okay.

“Liza!” She picked up the pace, lips wide in a grin as she caught sight of the rock. “I found it! I… Liza?”

Of the rock that was sitting empty by the river.

Of the river that was sitting silent in the valley.

She had found the tree. She had the berries. Two of them – one for Liza and one for her. She had them.

She hadn’t been gone long.

“Liza?”

*

No rations.

No Liza.

No rations.

No Liza.

The more Ayane waited for her, the more she paced back and forth and back forth around the rock, the more she waited and the more no one ever came and the more she waited and the more Liza wasn’t there the more she need to scream.

She found the tree. She had the berries. Everything was supposed to be okay. Everything was supposed to be okay.

She screamed.

And the berries screamed with her.

No.

No, the berries whispered with her screams. The two of them all tucked up together in the little piece of cloth that Liza had once knitted, they whispered to her, told her that everything was supposed to be okay. Because it was supposed to be.

Because she had found the tree.

Everything was supposed to be okay.

And the berries just wouldn’t shut up.

And Liza was gone.

So she screamed.

*

When she couldn’t scream anymore, she laughed. The sun and its tricks, always reflecting off the river and shining so brightly.

It had been days.

She had been waiting.

But Liza never came. No one ever came. Even she had the berries. No one. And the sun, as much as it stayed with her, wasn’t enough to fill the emptiness that was growing inside her.

Or enough to fill her stomach. It had stopped growling, but… But the berries were whispering. And if she wanted to find Liza, if she wanted to save Liza, she needed to live. She needed to survive.

So Ayane used what strength she had left to push herself up. To step towards the rock and to uncurl the cloth. To pick up one of the two berries, all glistening deep, almost blood-red, and emanating the ever so-slightest smell of something beyond sweet that her bones ached for.

And when she brought it to her lips, when her sank down into the soft skin of the berry, it was over almost as soon as it started. It only took a couple of bites for her to swallow the berry entirely, like it was the easiest thing she had ever done.

And it tasted good.

She let out a sigh as she took a minute to let it settle in her stomach, for the taste to trace its way through her mouth. And then she rolled the cloth back up. Tucked the berry into her belt and set forth.

She only lasted three steps before something hit her brain.

Before she staggered.

Before she collapsed into the river.

*

It wasn’t the water that woke Ayane up, even if it was deep and cold and all around her.

It was the tree. The sharp roots digging into her skin, splinters burrowing and squirming through her, the rough branches curling around her, pressing her, cracking through her skin, bark becoming her skin…

It was the berries. Hanging over her, blood red and whispering.

It was the roots, sucking her everything into the tree.

It was the berries, whispering, desperate to escape.

They were alive.

And she always would be.


End file.
